This week's SmackDown was the go-home show to Saturday's Royal Rumble and the last chance WWE was going to have to promote a pay-per-view that is traditionally full of surprises and big moments. Setting the stage for what could be coming in 24 hours, there were a couple of surprises on Friday's show.

The program started with the surprise return of Sasha Banks, and it was followed by some in-ring action that included a number of the competitors in the men's match. Sonya Deville finally wrestled Naomi, but then announced herself for the women's match at the Rumble and Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns met face-to-face. Their promo was anything but normal for how these two characters have been portrayed in the past few weeks.

There was some good and bad Friday night, but most of it worked. Here are the winners and losers for SmackDown, January 28, 2022:

Winner: Sasha Banks Returned

Charlotte opened the show and bragged she would be the first female champion to win the match and select a challenger for her title. That brought out Shayna Baszler, Aliyah, Natalya, Shotzi and eventually Sasha Banks who returned a good four weeks ahead of schedule from an injury that was expected to keep her out until late February. When WWE announced her injury, it was expected she might only be available to build up a program for WrestleMania. Now, she's quickly become a favorite to win the Rumble match on Saturday which is a huge get for WWE.

This segment would have been fairly uneventful if not for Banks' inclusion in it. Her coming out last changed the dynamic of a pretty standard promo in a major way. It was a strong way to start the program and suggested there could be a lot more coming on Saturday. Some might argue WWE should have saved the surprise for the actual event, but one would have to assume there will be other surprises, and Banks' return on SmackDown was meant to sell the pay-per-view.

Loser: Sheamus and Ridge Holland Win Tag Match

There was nothing wrong with the match, other than the fact Holland looked kind of silly spending most of it with his mask falling off. Beyond that, the four men wrestling did a fine job and each will be in the Rumble match tomorrow, so it made sense to have them on the show. That said, this was fairly simple and didn't really sell the Rumble. WWE could have teased some heat between Sheamus and Ridge or done something else to build up some speculation for 24 hours from now. Instead, they went with the angle that Holland hit Cesaro with the mask to pick up an unethical win.

Winner: Sonya Deville Actually Wrestles

After months and months of Sonya Deville messing with Naomi and avoiding her at all costs, Deville and Naomi actually wrestled on Friday night. Naomi picked up the big win and celebrated in the ring, only to find out that the WWE official/competitor was using her authority to enter herself into the Royal Rumble match. She then hinted it would be her sole mission to mess with Naomi during the match. What will be interesting is whether Deville really goes out of her way to make her an entrant that comes right after The Glow's entrance. If so, and she eliminates Naomi, one has to wonder if Adam Pearce will have to come down on Deville.

Related: Backstage Notes On Ronda Rousey's WWE Contract Status [Report]

Winner: Rick Boogs

While Boogs does look like a buff Freddie Mercury and that look is a bit questionable, there's no doubting the ceiling for this competitor is extremely high. His strength is unmatched in many ways and WWE is clearly behind him succeeding. He "hulked up" in his tag match with Shanky and Jinder Mahal and essentially took out the team on his own. That he held a backbreaker and suplexed Shanky with ease shows he's probably got a rocket strapped to his back and will quickly work his way up the food chain.

The one miss was Pat McAfee comparing Boogs landing moves on Shanky to the likes of Hogan landing moves on Andre. That was a massive stretch. MacAfee is really good and he's sometimes worth watching SmackDown for. This was one instance where he got carried away.

Winner: Double Turn Between Rollins And Reigns?

In a closing promo that felt a lot like both men involved were turning from heel to babyface and babyface to heel, Rollins played the bad guy, while Reigns sold the fact he can't forgive Rollins for what he did to The Shield. This was the first time in a long time Reigns was gaining a sympathetic ear from the WWE Universe as he called back to a time the fans remember fondly. Meanwhile, Rollins played every heel card there was. He said he did it for Rollins own good, called his family a joke and his title reign a joke and then bragged he was going to end it on Saturday. Reigns tried to take out Rollins but missed and The Head of the Table left the ring looking befuddled.

If a double turn is what WWE has planned, this is very intriguing development and could say a lot about what might go down on Saturday. If the rumors of Reigns feeling some long-lasting effects from COVID are accurate and perhaps he's set to take a little time off, could this promo have been the start of Rollins becoming a new heel Universal Champion? This promo was carried by Rollins, but Reigns being quieter could have been the point. Not only that, but it created a lot more questions than it answered, which creates intrigue heading into tomorrow's SmackDown main event.

SmackDown Match Results:

* Sheamus and Ridge Holland defeat Cesaro and Ricochet in a tag match after Cesaro gets hit in the face with a protective mask meant to keep Holland's nose safe.

* Naomi defeats Sonya Deville

* Rick Boogs and Shinsuka Nakamura defeat Jinder Mahal and Shanky in a tag team match.

* Kofi Kingston and Big E defeat Madcap Moss and Happy Corbin after Big E lands the Big Ending to secure the pin.